Reading Day 6
The first timeCP #narrativefiction, #remembrance, #presentism
Laura was born in a small town in 1962, to a happily married couple who long dreamt of the perfect baby she would become. Her development, by the age of three, in no manner contradicted the Ages and Stages parent’s guide to normal childhood. Her first scrolling along the kitchen floor, her first steps and first ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’, all seemed marked by universal seasonal changes. Her personality slowly formed to be cheerful and well mannered, as her construction of sentences grew more complex with time. At the age of five she had already developed a talkative character, and her parents saw in a cute light her habit to call family members by a different name. So was the case with Laura’s aunt’s daughter, for example, who she would call David. Her aunt and mum, in between their agitated Sunday gatherings, discussed how funny it would have been for their father to witness his name mistaken by his grandchild’s. The name swap seemed to be a costume that Laura embraced with all normality. She even called herself differently, Dana. By the age of seven, Laura’s parents had grown awfully concerned. Laura’s occupation with names was now joined by stories which could no longer be taken lightly. As the alarm clock went on, Laura jumped out of bed, rushing to her appointment. She decided to take the train to avoid the traffic, and as she sat down she took out her diary. Every morning, Laura rehearsed the same ritual. She wrote down memories that the people she met the day before had evoked. She also titled her diary in a rather unpoetic manner, considering her experience, Of reincarnation and past lives. The particular notebook she was holding in her hands was just one of the many she had already filled in with Dana’s past, that by now had outgrown her. After all the daily flashbacks had poured out of her, she would energetically close off the diary and put it back into her purse. From that moment of the day on, Laura couldn’t care less about remembering Dana’s life in such disturbing detail. In fact, she had cultivated a parallel obsession, to construct a full new life for herself. Her appointment today was the fifth this week. The moment Laura had grown old enough to wander off to the nearest city, she joined any community centre activity she could find in the ads. She would make new acquaintances at a rate that to other people would be unbearable. It was excessive to herself too, actually, but she got hooked to the sensation of saying ‘Hi, hello, my name is Laura, yours?’ and having a blank page appear in her mind. No previous connection, no attachment, no responsibility. It was a relieving
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